Child of the night
by Zurizip
Summary: A strange girl comes to hogwarts, who the heck is she, how in the world do you pronounce her name, and why would she be afraid of Harry Potter?
1. Default Chapter

Blast! I hate these stupid plot bunnies! This time its Zuri... ~*g*~  
"Nichols, erm... Zu-rye-ziep?"  
Sighing, she stood up. That glitch in the name always meant it was her turn, no matter where she was.  
"Its Zur-ee-zip Professor."  
"Oh, yes, of course dear. Well, come here."  
Reluctantly, she began to approach the stairs. She grew more self conscious with every step. Sitting herself on  
the stool, she took a deep breath and pulled on the sorting hat.  
'Good day Zurizip!'  
Not wanting to be rude to the thing that was going to determine her future, she politely answered.  
'Hello...'  
'Now than, where shall I put you?'  
'I thought you were the one to decide that...'  
'Ah, but it is your decision as much as it is mine.'  
'May I make a request than?'  
'Of course.'  
'Could you possibly not put me in Huff'n'puff?'  
The hat chuckled.  
'Oh my! That is a new one!'  
It continued to chuckle, and then began to mutter to itself.  
'Well now, good manners and family lineage would dictate that I put you into Slytherin...'  
'What are rules for but breaking?'  
Again it laughed, ringing in her ears, this seemed to be taking longer than usual...  
'You certainly have been an eye-opener! Which is exactly why I am putting you into "GRYFFINDOR!"'  
As she took the thing off, she rolled her eyes at its humor. Inanimate objects were often like that when brought to life, either utterly ridiculous, or incredibly serious. As she began to walk to the Gryfindor table, a smattering of applause met her. She gave everyone a strained smile, and made her way to the very end, where a few seats were left open. She took a place away from the people, on the very edge. First days were not her strong point.  
Though she knew that she would probably be getting into trouble for talking later in the year, for now she was content to sit by herself and watch the world go by.  
As the rest of the people were called, Zurizip let herself drowse, and think about the trip to Hogwarts. A few third years had been walking up and down the train, asking if anyone had seen a toad. She had, but didn't say as much. The thing had jumped onto the seat next to her, plainly scared about something, so she let it be. When  
they had woken her up for the third time, she had shooed it into the aisle. The owner, a third year Gryfindor, had tried to grab it, but missed twice before another girl his age had helped him. Muttering about people who didn't keep track of their pets, she had rolled over and gone back to sleep.  
Now the loud clap of hands awakened her. It was clear that the headmaster had just made a speech, and judging by the looks on the faces, it had been a good one. She yawned, and sat up. Never one for speeches, she clapped along with the rest. Food appeared on her plate, and she raised her eyebrows, then began to eat.  
"Blast! We've missed the sorting again!"  
The comment and the scraping of chairs made her look up when she was done. A red-headed boy and a boy with black hair had just pulled up seats next to her, a second later, a girl she had seen on the train joined them. Hermione, that was her name, she had helped the boy with the toad catch him, who had he been? Neville, that was it. She looked down again.  
"Hullo, are you a new first year? Welcome to Gryfindor! I'm Ron Weasly!"  
"Erm, hi."  
"I'm Hermione Granger, who are you?"  
"Zurizip Phoniexlia Nichols"  
"That's a nice name, especially the middle, oh yeah, this is Harry Potter!"  
"Hermione!"  
Her head shot up.   
"H-H-Harry P-Potter?"  
Those green eyes were rather unnerving. She suddenly wondered if he had even heard of her family, and desperately hoped not. Realizing that all three of the third years were staring at her with an interested look, she quickly stood up, thankful that the prefects were already getting ready to leave to the towers.  
"Wait a sec, what did you say your name was?"  
She Panicked.  
"Shit!"  
And with that she was gone, leaving the three very confused. Finally Ron broke the contemplation.  
"Rather outspoken for a first year isn't she?"  
Hermione rolled her eyes.  
"I wonder what I said?"  
"Rather what did my name say?"  
"Yes, I noticed that to, what was her name?"  
Harry cocked his head, trying to remember.  
"Zu-rye-ziep?"  
"No Harry, it was Zur-ee-zip."  
"Oh yes, Zurizip Nichols."  
Ron snickered.  
"Wonder if she's related to Draco."  
Hermione rolled her eyes.  
"Well, it's a wizarding family name for sure, except the last name isn't right for a wizard."  
"Maybe her parents are mixed?"  
"No, it's her middle name that bothers me, that's the right kind of wizarding name."  
"Maybe the mother was a wizard, and wanted to keep the family name?"  
"Probably."  
Ron shrugged and dropped it, Harry however was still curious. Why in the world was she afraid of him? He had seen all manner of reaction to his name, awe, surprise, but never fear. He rushed through his dinner, and finally decided not to worry about it. He didn't think about it again for a long while. Which was just fine with her.  
* * * *  
Not to bad if I do say so myself...  
Sorry bout the constant stressing of the name, its a difficult name, and thats why I do it. 


	2. Finding a Room

When she arrived at her room, she found her trunk allready at the foot of a bed. Smiling she pulled a book from the trunk, and climbed onto the top bunk. Propping herself on the wall, she began to read aloud to her cat, calamity. The cat, who had already explored the rest of the castle during dinner, began to root around the room. Zurizip had to yell at her twice to keep her from getting into the other girl's stuff. Finally, calamity jumped into her lap, begging for attention. Laughing, she began to scratch her behind the ears. The sound of laughter from the common room brought her back to herself, and she glanced at the ever burning time candle. It was 9:00, how did it get so late, she wondered. Getting down, to the dismay of the cat, she began to rummage through her trunk to find her night clothes. She changed into the overlarge shirt and pants, and began to root around her trunk again, this time to find her toothpaste and so on. When three girls walked into the room, she straightened up. The first was walking backwards, and nearly bumped into her before turning around.  
  
"Hello! What's your name?"  
  
Is that the first thing everyone asks, She thought.  
  
"Zurizip."  
  
"Really? That's an awsome name! My name is Anna!"  
  
Zurizip looked at her. She was in a hogwarts robe, with muggles clothes under it. Light brown hair framed a rounded face with glasses. As she looked, the two other girls tried to push their way around Anna.  
  
"OOF! Oops…sorry"  
  
The next girl tumbled in caught her attention, mostly because she had to jump out of the way. She had tried to go around Anna, and only managed to be tripped by the shorter girl, fall, and bring both down. Trying to step around them, the next girl, a blond, tripped and fell on top of the heap. To make things worse, Calamity walked up to Anna's nose and sniffed delicatly. Trying not to snort as she laughed, Zuri only collapsed onto her trunk.  
  
"Calamity! Leave them be! Your not helping!"  
  
As the three sat up, rubbing their heads, the blond shook herself.  
  
"Sela, When I said I would visit your room, I had no idea it would be so dangourus!"  
  
The redhead grinned.  
  
"Funny, its my room, and I didn't know either!"  
  
Zurizip, now very confused, held up her hands.  
  
"Wait a sec, Who's who? Who stays here, and why are all three of you here?"  
  
Anna, obviously hyper, jumped into the conversation again.  
  
"Im Anna, The redhead is Sela, and the blonde is Jackie."  
  
"Im not a redhead! Im Red brown!"  
  
"Gees ok, youd think I called you a blonde!"  
  
"Hey!"  
  
"oops"  
  
By this time, Zurizip was laughing again.  
  
"Ok, ok, that explains that first question, now who's staying in this room?"  
  
Anna and Sela raised their hands.  
  
"Ok, now who's the third?"  
  
"Im Jackie!"  
  
"I meant in this room."  
  
"Oh, I don't know."  
  
She sighed.  
  
"Well that helps."  
  
Quick steps were heard on the staircase, and another girl appeared in the room. She had long black hair with blonde highlights which were quite striking.  
  
"I'm here!"  
  
"Wonderful, who are you?"  
  
"Ana…"  
  
"Hey! That's my name!"  
  
"No it isn't! Its mine!"  
  
Zuri shook her head.  
  
"Is this what the entire year is going to be like?"  
  
Sela smiled.  
  
"Of course."  
  
The girl noticed them again.  
  
"So, who're you?"  
  
"Zurizip."  
  
"Zzz-ip?"  
  
"no no no, Zur-ee-zip."  
  
"Oh! Ok…"  
  
Just then, a prefect walked up the stairs, and told them to get to bed, as they had an early day tomarrow. Jackie scurried off to her room, as Sela and the others jumped into their night clothes. Sela then tried to climb into her bed, but stopped with a yelp.  
  
"What is the world!?"  
  
Zuri looked over to the other top bunk. When she saw what was going on, she couldn't help but laugh. Calamity and a black cat had taken up residence in Sela's sheets.  
  
"Calamity, get over here! Is that one yours?"  
  
"Yep, that's chaos."  
  
By this time, Anna was awake again.  
  
"It's the kitty duo! Chaos and Calamity!"  
  
Zuri laughed.  
  
"Calamity, Come on get your but over here."  
  
The cat gave her a disdainfull look, and jumped over lightly. Giving her another look, she curled up and went to sleep. Zuri gave her a strange look, and said  
  
"lets just hope they don't live up to their names."  
  
Sela looked over.  
  
"Oh they will, thus is the nature of a cat."  
  
"So very true."  
  
With that, everyone went to sleep. 


	3. Encounter

Disclaimer: you know the drill…  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
When the next day dawned, the castle was dripping rain. Everyone woke up gloomy. Well, everyone besides Zurizip. When she woke up, she dressed threw her hair in a pony tail and raced to the great hall for breakfast. Anna and Ana, not at all morning people, grumbled and groused at her for being so happy. Sela was nearly as chipper, she just hated the weather. Since Zurizip loved the rain, it didn't bother her. Breakfast was quieter than dinner had been, presumably because no one had gotten their sleep. Looking at their schedule, Sela balked.  
  
"Oh isn't this just wonderful!"  
  
Looking up from her breakfast, Zuri gave her a quizzical look.  
  
"What's wonderful?"  
  
"We have potions and transfiguration with slytherin!"  
  
Everyone groaned loudly. Zurizip looked the least happy. Ana piped up,  
  
"Well I dunno, some of the slytherin guys are kinda cute!"  
  
All three groaned again, plus jackie, who had just sat down, groaned again and hit Ana with their folders. When that was over, Sela continued to pour over the schedule, this time seeing when the classes were. Zurizip's curiosity finally got the best of her.  
  
"So, what do we have first?"  
  
"Erm, Potions, then Defense against the dark arts…"  
  
"DADA!"  
  
"As I was saying, transfiguration…"  
  
The great bell rang and she never finished. They began to walk out of the hall when Zuri stopped.  
  
"Wait a sec, we have Potions… First?"  
  
"Um…yeah, didn't she say that?"  
  
"Erg! That's going to be awful!"  
  
Sela walked up and put a hand on her shoulder.  
  
"What time of day wouldn't it be bad?"  
  
They all laughed, so far the older years had already told them which classes were the best and worst. Zuri smirked.  
  
"So true. Drat! I forgot my schedule!"  
  
Turning around to get it, she walked into someone. Looking up, she saw blond hair, and a very angry face.  
  
"Oops, sorry!"  
  
The face sneered, and she suddenly remebered who it was. Her face immediately snapped into a frown. She knew him, her parents had dealt with his family before. She had also seen him on the train. Before the dementors had come through her car, this kid had come running down the aisle, stark white. The dementors didn't frighten her as badly as most. She had been told that they recalled the worst memories of the past to your mind. Since those same memories were usually on her mind, it didn't effect her as much. When they went by, a few screams for mercy shot through her head, and the thought that that explained why the toad had been so scared.  
  
A Drawling voice awakened her to the present.  
  
"Well, well, if it isn't another clumsy first year?"  
  
"And if it isn't another arrogant third year?"  
  
Anna giggled from a safe distance away. Most of the others had backed away a bit, she noticed that they were the only ones around, standing in the entrance to the great hall. Anna continued to giggle and the boy's face turned white with anger, Zuri considered backing away herself, but discarded the thought and continued.  
  
"Oh wait, I'm sorry, only a Malfoy third year could be so horrible!"  
  
She stared at him, unblinking, as Draco's face contorted into an angry mask. She knew that now he recognized her, took him long enough, she thought. She reached out and flicked the end of his nose, turning his snarl into a look of surprise. Leaning up, she placed her lips next to his ear and said,  
  
"Best not keep you pretty little face like that, or it'll get stuck."  
  
She then turned on her heel and walked away, skipping aside the stupefying spell he sent her way. 


	4. Potions

1 "Zurizip Phoniexlia…Nichols"  
  
She giggled, then composed herself. He had gotten it right, but that pause couldn't be good, well for him anyway. Anna, nudging her, handed her a note.  
  
I Wow! He got it right the first time! /I  
  
Giving her a grin, Zuri nodded. Ripping up the paper, she tried to find a way to dispose of it, but it didn't work. Snape had already noticed.  
  
"Well young lady, already passing notes I see."  
  
"Yes sir."  
  
She looked down, let him think it was out of respect, all those looking from her level would see she was trying hard not to laugh. Now that she saw him close, she couldn't help it. Snape had been descibed to her as someone who could hang the moon and take it down again. To her it looked as if he couldn't even take a robe off a hook. In reality she felt sorry for him, but still, it was so funny! When he had walked away, she began to giggle again, and leaned under the table to hide it, gaining some rather odd looks. She overbalanced, and nearly fell off the chair. Instead of making a scene by falling, she did it by scraping the chair on the floor and squeaking in surprise. Sitting up again, she saw Snape turn around.  
  
"Something for you?"  
  
"No sir!"  
  
Snape snorted and turned around, muttering. Then he gave the room a sweeping glance, and began his speech.  
  
"Now I expect none of you, who are probly as naïve as muggles at this time, to understand the delicate art of chemistry…"  
  
Zuri raised her hand, earning cringes from the gryfindors and glares from the slytherins. Snape himself gave her a vile look and called on her.  
  
"Miss Ph…Nichols?"  
  
"Sir, this, aside from magical creatures, is one of the few classes that a muggle could understand, in fact, many muggles do practice potions in different forms such as cooking and what they call 'chemistry'. So, in saying that we are as naïve as muggles, you are really saying that we are quite knowledgeable in the field!"  
  
She finished her speech, and held her gaze with Snape, attempting to stare him down. It didn't work, but she did earn some scattered applause from the muggle-born students. The slytherins however, simply gave her their worst glare. Just to make them all mad, she smiled her sweetest smile that she could. Snape choose to ignore her, and continued his speech.  
  
By the end of the class, Zurizip had sucessfully ruined Snape's nerves, not to mentions those of the other gryfindors. For some reason, he never took points off her house when it was her, but he did however punish a few for talking. His pride however kept him from taking from them for no reason. When they were finally released, Sela and Anna ran up to her at top speed with a few of the other first years, as well as some slytherins that were curious, but would never admit it. They gathered around her, demanding an explination.  
  
"Zuri, why didn't he take points off?"  
  
"Really wonderful speech in there, gave me some confidence in that blasted class."  
  
"How did you do it…never mind, I don't want to know?"  
  
"Why did you do that?"  
  
"I swear, he was going to curse you there!"  
  
She giggled, and waited until it was just her, Sela, Ana, and Anna again.  
  
"Well," She said between giggles "My mother and him were rather *ahem* close at one time…"  
  
She did not bother to mention where, what they didn't know wouldn't hurt them, she decided. Sela raised her eyebrows.  
  
"Close?"  
  
By that time, Zuri was leaning against the wall, trying not to fall. After another fit of laughter, she said,  
  
"Yep! Not very good taste huh?"  
  
Anna was standing stock still in the corrider, in a state of shock.  
  
"Your M-M-Mother? And… …. … Him?"  
  
This sent them all over the edge, Sela, Ana and Zuri were sitting on the floor, laughing very, very hard. Anna threw her hands in the air.  
  
"I'm just not going to think about it…lets get going!"  
  
Wiping their eyes, they got up and set off to find defense against the dark arts, or, as Anna so oftern put it, DADA! 


	5. More Classes

"Hello everyone, and welcome to defense against the dark arts!"  
  
Zuri looked around at the room. It was covered in quills, posters, bubbleing tanks with random creatures in it, and a great many books. She was startled when Anna yelled out,  
  
"DADA!!"  
  
"Anna, shush!"  
  
The tallish man looked round at them, smiling. Zuri and Sela were franticlly trying to shut Anna up, with little success.  
  
"Yes, I have heard it referred to as dada, but it has been a while."  
  
As she watched him interact with the class, Zuri decided she liked this teacher. Apparently, this job had been passed around like a hot potato for three years. This time though, Remus Lupin had been splattered with ketchup. She did not envy him in the least. They had an interesting lesson on snakes, and how they had always been associated with evil. Zuri loved snakes, though always told otherwise, she had found that snakes made very loyal friends, well, once they trusted you. Her mother was a parseltounge, but she had not picked up the talent. Still, snakes seemed to know her, and did heed her when she talked to them, they just didn't talk back. Her mother had always said that she spoke normal English when she talked to them, so she was content.  
  
When they got out of that class, they quickly walked to transfiguration, to beat the crowd. They came about 5 minutes early. When they walked in Anna Squealed.  
  
"Look, a kitty!"  
  
It looked at her, not turning its head but blinking and then pointed to a seat. Zuri looked at it, and then turned around, it was making her dizzy.  
  
"It isn't real, must be a wizards statue or something."  
  
She shook her head, nearly over her dizziness. It was annoying, she had looked at the eyes, and nearly fell over. Sighing, she began to unpack, explaining to herself that it must have been the magic that had animated the statue. Suddenly, she heard a gasp and a wow from Sela. Turning around to look at the front, she found the statue gone, and professor McGonagal in front of the desk. She gaped for a moment, and then found her voice.  
  
"P-P-Professor McGonagal? Where did you come from? And where is that statue?"  
  
The professor gave her a odd look, that turned stern in a eye blink.  
  
"I was that statue Miss Nichols."  
  
"Oh…"  
  
Without blinking an eye, McGonagal turned from her and began to take roll from the rest of the students who had filed in. After transfiguration, she breathed easier, Professor McGonagal made her nervous, and it didn't help that she kept getting strange looks throughout the lesson. Lunchtime was next, she told herself, retreating from the chaos of Anna and Ana, she went to her place at the end. She ate quickly, so that she could study. As she brought out her potions book, a voice drifted over the crowd, she froze.  
  
"Blast it, this must be where they sit", she whispered.  
  
Hermione, followed by Ron and Harry, had come over and sat near her. Zuri simply burrowed her head in the book, hoping that they wouldn't notice her. She tried her best to ignore them, but the plan failed, Ron noticed and said,  
  
"What ho! It seems as if we have another Hermione here!"  
  
Hermione glared for a moment, and then smiled, saying,  
  
"Hello."  
  
Petrified as she was that Harry would suddenly notice her, she made herself smile and give a nice reply, she wasn't sure what it was exactly. Slowly she got up and made excuses, again, she wasn't sure how good they were. Quickly, she shuffled to the common room. Hermione turned to watch her go.  
  
"Did she seem a bit…erm…odd to you?" she asked Harry, who had just gotten around to actually sitting.  
  
"Who?"  
  
Hermione sighed heavily.  
  
"Honestly." 


	6. Studying

A week later, after dinner, Zuri retreated to the common room for her last bout with studies. Looking around, she found Hermione studying furiously. She didn't notice Harry or Ron around, so she went and sat next to her. Hermione looked up, smiled weakly, and looked back down to her muggle studies book. Reassured, Zuri pulled out her parchment and potions book, then began to work. For a while, the two worked in silence. When Zuri next looked up, her silent study buddy was doing divination. She rolled her eyes. In her opinion, Divination was only as good as the tea sludge you looked at. She stared off into space for a bit, before her eyes settled on a book that was moving on its own. It seemed to be heading for her charms book. Suddenly it made a lunge. Before it could make it, Zuri snatched it. It continued to struggle, but eventually calmed down. Looking up to see if Hermione had noticed, she saw that she was half-asleep while looking at transfiguration. Slowly, she set it down again. Immediately, it began to scuttle forth again, intent on her book. Grabbing it again, she said,  
  
"Oh no you don't sir, If your going to rip up a book, at least make yourself useful and rip up my potions book!"  
  
Holding it again, she stroked it as she would a cat. She had seen Hagrid do this while watching out the green house window. It shuddered and fell open into her lap. Looking down at it, she saw a bright blue shape flit across the page. It swooped again, and then settled in the middle. Zuri gasped at the sight. It was a dragon, the color of a shallow ocean, with a rich green belly. Its eyes were a dark earthy green that matched her own to the exact hue. Preening its wings, it pointed at the label.  
  
Jeweled Dragon, stands three feet tall, tail is usually five feet in length.  
  
"Wow."  
  
Hermione frowned as she looked up.  
  
"Funny, I've never seen that page, and how did you catch it? Its already ruined my copy of Quidditch through the ages!"  
  
Zuri smiled.  
  
"We keep all sorts of animals at home, well, I do anyway. My brothers call it the menagerie."  
  
"You have brothers? How old are they?"  
  
She frowned at the thought of her half siblings. She was…unfond of them.  
  
"They're both 27, my mom had twins by another marriage."  
  
Well, she thought, not marriage exactly…  
  
"Oh, I see."  
  
Zuri paused and stared at the dragon again. It flew away in a whirl of color.  
  
"May I borrow this?"  
  
Hermione smiled, knowing she had found someone almost as dedicated to knowledge as her.  
  
"Sure, I just need it back after lunch tommarrow."  
  
Inwardly, Zuri cringed, that meant that she probly had to see harry again. Before she could say it was ok, she would just find a copy for herself somtime, the dragon reappeared. She snapped the book closed, nodded and got up, heading to her room to read it.  
  
"Thank you." 


	7. Halloween morning

Hello again all, haven't updated for a while, but here I am… I apoligize in advance for a few things…this is going to get rather angsty…and it might not follow the book exactly, but I cant stand to stray too far, so itll dtay pretty well…ok? REVIEW!!  
  
PURRRRRRR. She woke up, a few seconds later she groaned. Halloween. Wonderful. She liked Halloween well enough, who wouldn't like infinite candy? However, something always managed to ruin it. When she was five, she broke her arm, when she was nine, her bike had been stolen. At least it was amusing in the muggle world. They always had the funniest costumes, every year she laughed at the large amounts of ghouls and ghosts that stopped at her house for candy. She had been the one to hand it out every year, as her mother wouldn't think of it, and she liked to see the little kids in costumes. Sighing, she remembered that she couldn't do that this year.  
  
"Oh well."  
  
Kicking off the covers, she petted Calamity, who was begging for attention. She decided that trying to go back to sleep was a lost cause, Calamity would never let her sleep while there was attention to be given. Quietly, she pulled on some cloths and wrapped herself in an overlarge sweatshirt. Barefooted, she pulled back the portrait of the fat lady and climbed out, going to the great hall. When she got there, it was totally empty. Well, almost totally. Dumbledore was there, silently sipping his morning tea. She was not aware of him until Calamity Meowed loudly from her place on the table next to him. Dumbledore smiled and petted her dutifully.  
  
"Good morning! Zurizip, I believe?"  
  
She stared and then began to smile, he had gotten it right the first time.  
  
"Yes sir."  
  
"I believe you are up a tad early for a holiday."  
  
She nodded.  
  
"I am, Calamity woke me up."  
  
"Ah yes, the cat. Fawkes does that every so often."  
  
"Fawkes?"  
  
He smiled.  
  
"Yes indeed, my Phoenix. I trust that you are well aware of the existence of Phoenixes?"  
  
"Well, I am named after them."  
  
She gasped and covered her mouth. That wasn't met to come out! Dumbledore nodded and smiled.  
  
"Yes…yes indeed, Phoniexlia."  
  
She tensed. Dumbledore knew, she could tell. Suddenly, Dumbledore changed the subject, it was not much better though.  
  
"What is your wand made of, may I ask?"  
  
She looked down. Her voice barely above a whisper, she answered.  
  
"Willow wood and Phoenix feather."  
  
"I trust that it is flexible?"  
  
"It is sir, nice and swishy, as the wand maker put it."  
  
"Do you know what the wand of your mother is?"  
  
"Yes sir, Mahogany and Phoenix feather."  
  
"Ah, a startling contrast, the straightest wood, and the most flexible. The darkest wood and the lightest."  
  
"Pardon me sir, what are you getting at?"  
  
He didn't answer, at least not directly.  
  
"Zurizip, have you ever heard the saying, the wand reflects the wizard?"  
  
She didn't get a chance to answer, because the entire teaching staff then filed in, along with a few Ravenclaws. Calamity trotted to her and lept into her arms, leaving Zuri nothing to do but go and sit down.  
  
*.*.*.  
  
hmmmmmmmm I liked that. 


	8. And night...

1 "Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh…I think I'm going to be sick…"  
  
"Join the club" muttered Zuri.  
  
Sela collapsed onto her bed, sighing.  
  
"Oh my gosh. Harry is soooooooooooooooooo cute."  
  
Zuri rolled her eyes. Harry wasn't bad, she could see why she liked him, but he was a not her type…too shortish. Well that and she was still slightly afraid of him. She had gotten over her major flightyness around him, deciding that it wasn't helping her situation. Instead she avoided him at all costs. She was however, a good friend of Hermione's and often studied with her. It wasn't difficult to avoid Harry though, she just made up an excuse to get away. Hermione was suspisious, she knew that, she just hoped that her friend was to busy to reflect on it too much.  
  
"So Zuri, who do you like?"  
  
She sighed.  
  
"No one, at the moment."  
  
"Oh sure, we believe you!"  
  
The wall near her bed was looking quite inviting at the moment, mostly to bang her head on. She was telling the truth, but who were they to believe her? Save me from my friends, she thought.  
  
"I'm serious, who do you like?"  
  
"I'm not telling you!"  
  
She smiled.  
  
"Anna, you know I'll figure it out eventually. I did it with Gary!"  
  
"Yes, I suppose you did, that was freaky. But im still not telling you!"  
  
"A clue?"  
  
"Hmmmm ok, let's just say youll think I'm crazy."  
  
"You are crazy, but let's see…Stephan?"  
  
She had named one of the Hufflepuffs.  
  
"No! Ive known him forever!"  
  
She thought for a moment. Running over names in her mind, one finally stuck.  
  
"I know! Jonah!"  
  
Anna stared at her for a moment, though she couldn't see it, being to tired and full to be sitting up.  
  
"How do you do that?!"  
  
"I dunno, I just do…"  
  
"Scus me? Could we please turn off the lights?"  
  
Sela started at Jackie's request.  
  
"Sure Jackie, one sec."  
  
She reached over, and they were suddenly plunged into darkness. Zuri tried to fall asleep, and even though she was tired to the core, she couldn't sleep. She wondered what had happened to her annual All Hallows Eve bad luck. It just wasn't natrual. Tossing and turning, she decided that she didn't want to wake up her roomates and climbed down, heading to the bathrooms. She could have gone to the common room, which was basiclly around the corner, but the light was better in the bathrooms. She grabbed a book along the way, and then sat in the soft light until well into the morning. At about two o'clock, she yawned and decided to give sleep a chance. She got up.  
  
"Ok lights, you can go out now."  
  
They dutifully turned all the way out. Streching, she began the track to her room. There was a small hallway, which led to the girl's bathroom, and opened up on the common room. Walking through that, she heard a horse scream. It had come from the boys dorm. She began to jog the rest of the way, unfourtanatly, it was pitch black. She felt, rather than saw the space open up into the commonroom. She knew where all the chairs were, thankfully and did not stub her toes. Suddenly, a large figure ran into her, knocking her over. It paused and looked her over. A gruff voice sounded.  
  
"Excuse me."  
  
Then the figure ran off, leaving her completely confused. A few minutes passed and the potrait hole opened and closed. She was prevented from thinking about anything, because six other figures charged down the staircase, and the portrait hole opened. It closed again, and the figures all stopped. Professer McGonagal's face was suddenly ilumminated in the pale light of her wand.  
  
"What is going on?!"  
  
Ron's face appeared out of the darkness.  
  
"Sirius Black! He tried to kill me!!"  
  
Zuri gaped. Then frowned. So that's who it was, she thought, but he didn't kill me, and he said excuse me! She did not voice the thought however.  
  
"Nonsense! There are dementors posted all around the school, it is safe!'  
  
Ron shook his head.  
  
"He tried to break into my bed! I reckon he was trying to get to Harry here."  
  
Harry's tired face nodded. Zuri raised her eyebrows.  
  
"We shall see."  
  
The professer trooped to the portrait hole that had sir Calogan in it. The small knight was sitting in the middle, practicing menacing poses.  
  
"Sir Calogan!"  
  
"Yes Mam?"  
  
"did you let a man In here?"  
  
"Yes I did madam, just a few minutes ago I did!"  
  
Zuri rolled her eyes from her place in the back, she had been forgotten, thankfully. Sir Calogan was an annoyance to her, she always argued with him about some thing or the other. Professer McGonagal meanwhile, was busy swallowing this information.  
  
"Did he have the password?"  
  
Sir Calogan did an impressive pose, giving the impression that he was offended.  
  
"He certainly did, read em off a little piece of paper!"  
  
All went silent. Zuri's heart sunk. She knew exactly who that was.  
  
"What idiot wrote down the password?"(A/N I know its more than that, but im working from memory)  
  
Neville slowly raised his hand. 


	9. A letter from home

The next week was little better, she always let Neville in, if no one had taken pity on him yet. The poor boy was always white as a sheet when he got to the tower, as the ogres enjoyed teasing him. Zurizip disliked them, a lot. She heard nothing from her family, until a letter came for her. When she saw the seal of the envelope, her forehead creased. It wasn't the actul seal that did it, that was beautiful. It was the sign of Neptune with dots in the curves, enclosed in an almond shaped eye. It was her own seal, given too her when she was born, but it meant that her mother alone had sent the letter, she had been the one to give it too her, and her father wasn't even aware of it's existance. This was sure too be ungood. Opening it, she read.  
  
Dearest Zurizip,  
  
Your father is no longer needed to us. I am leaving him. Do not fret, you know we never got on anyhow, and you know why. Sirius Black has escaped from Azkaban and I must find him before anyone else. There will not be a place to stay for Christmas, so stay over at Hogwarts. Do not contact me, I must catch him to gain confidence from the muggles. He also may reveal us both to the witches council, even a convicts accusation is heeded nowadays.  
  
Love,  
  
Ailah.  
  
Zuri folded the letter up carfully, biting back tears. Her father and Mother had never gotten on, but it was still sad to see it go. She sighed, her mother had used 'us'. As far as she was concerned, Black could only reveal her mother. She was as far out from her mother as she could get. Still, the wizards council had an equal amount of idiots as the muggle boards. She thought of her favorite joke. 'Oxymoron #1, Political Intelligence'. She smiled, it was so true. Would they blame her for her mother's actions? Her take on it was that half of the people would take the 'chilad forced to darkness' side and the others would take the 'Girl follows in mothers footsteps' part. No one would bother to think she had resisted, except perhaps the few that knew her. It never occurred to her that people might pity her, she wasn't really used to it. She had been about eight when she realized how bad her mother was. Now at twelve, she knew that a group was torture compared to an individual. It was this information that kept her in love with life, no matter what it threw at her. Even when people told her how horrible Sirius Black was, she still maintained that there was a bit of wonder, love, and goodness in each living thing.  
  
"Yoo Hoo! Hey Zuri! Wake up girl!"  
  
She started, and looked down to find that the letter had disappeared. She shrugged, it was disintegrating paper, so that no one else could read it.  
  
"What?"  
  
"You were staring at the head table! One of the teachers catch your fancy?"  
  
She made a face.  
  
"Oh my goodness Ana, no! Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!"  
  
All collapsed laughing. When they were done, Sela asked,  
  
"So, what does your letter say?"  
  
Zuri made a face, then smiled, covering her annoyance at her mother.  
  
"Nothing, I just cant go home for Christmas."  
  
"Really? That's horrible, why not? My mother's visiting Grandmother in Norway, and she doesn't want me going all that way by myself, so I guess I'll be with you!"  
  
Zuri grinned at Sela, this Christmas would be fun.  
  
"My mom is moving, and she doesn't want me home in a half set up house, that's all."  
  
Sela frowned.  
  
"Its about family, not decorations."  
  
"Yeah, I know, its her you have to convince."  
  
"Erg. By all means."  
  
And so, breakfast ended with a good laugh. 


	10. Fetch with a squid

Ok, this is where the angst comes to play, or the beginning…  
  
*.*.  
  
Another week later, Zuri was sitting by the lake and palying fetch with the squid. It was something she suspected someone else had taught her (Hagrid was on the top of her list.). One day, a few weeks into the school year, she had been…well, extremely mad. She had stomped down to the lake to get a little peace from Anna, who had been bothering her incessantly. Just generally mad at the world, she had thrown a stick as far into the water as she possibly could. It had arced up and up and up, and finally dropped into the water, landing with a splash. Kneeling to pick up anther stick to throw, she couldn't find one. She looked up only to find the previously thrown stick five feet away from her on shore. Shrugging, she had thrown it again, and this time she watched. For two breaths all was still, and then a large tentacle had risen out of the water. It had picked up the stick with the delicacy of a florist picking a flower. Slowly, and then picking up speed, it came towards her. Then it stopped, now ten feet from shore. It reached over, and dropped it right in front of her. Slowly, she picked it up again. She was still unsure whether it was a game to it, or it simply didn't want the stick in its space. The tentacle had flicked back and forth, and she realized it was expectant. She had laughed and thrown it again, starting a strange friendship between herself and the squid, which she affectionately named Legs. Now she stood in an inch of rain and two inches of mud, throwing a half-drowned stick to the squid. Legs really did seem to enjoy it, she rather suspected that he liked the noise. A large roar went up. Zuri stopped mid-throw and cursed.  
  
"Blast."  
  
She began to run, but stopped. It was pointless, the teachers would never let her in this late to a quidditch game. She sighed, that was the second time she had missed a quidditch game.  
  
"Probably couldn't see a bloody thing anyway."  
  
It wasn't anything against the game, she loved to fly, in fact she was planning to try out for the team next year. Unless you were in the game though, it was codswallop in her opinion. She kept missing the games due to hanging out with the squid, or Hagrids various animals. She and Hagrid shared a love for animals, though she was more careful around the more dangerous ones. She sighed, remembering when he had let her meet the hippogriffs. Time took her back for a moment, and she remebered it like she was there…  
  
"Hagrid, what are those?"  
  
He turned, Zuri was looking over the gate at the Hippogriffs, while they pranced around, showing off. He grinned.  
  
"Those 'r Hippogriffs, interestin creatures they are."  
  
"They're beautiful!"  
  
"Hmmmm, you really think so?"  
  
"Well of course, look at that one, she's silver, but when the light hits her right, its like she's every color of the rainbow."  
  
He grinned.  
  
"Ay, why do you think I've named her Rainbow? Would ye like to meet her?"  
  
Zuri gave Hagrid a strange look.  
  
"Could I? I mean, it wont get you in trouble will it?"  
  
Hagrid waved his hand and shook his head.  
  
"Nah, just so long as ye follow my directions, you'll be fine. Allthough, they havent had much contact with people, my class hasn't net them yet."  
  
He seemed to take special pride in saying 'my class' she noticed, though she didn't blame him. Nodding, she clammored over the gate, and did exactly what he told her.  
  
"Now, walk straight to her, and stand up tall, that's right. Look her in the eye, don't blink too much, and bow."  
  
She walked up to it, and looked it in the eye. It was like looking into a blue dimond, she found it hard too blink. Getting up the little courage she had left, she took a deep breath and dipped a small curtsey. The Hippogriff, regarded her for a moment, and then bowed in return. Zuri looked into the eyes again, they had lost their hard edge, and now looked like deep ocean water. Slowly, so she didn't startle her, she began to stroke Rainbow's neck. She looked around and smiled at Hagrid, who was grinning back.  
  
A drop of extra cold water on the back of her neck made her jump about a foot in the air. She screamed and turned, then began to laugh. The squid, getting bored, had reached over and tapped her on the shoulder. Grinning, she decided she had better start playing again, or she was likely to get soaked, not that she wasn't allready. She tried to get the stick that they had been playing with, only to find that it had sunken into a small pit of mud. She kneeled down to find it, as there wernt many stick around. Suddenly, a frigid wind ripped all warmth from her body. Whipping her head to the lake, she found the squid gone, and a circle of dementors around her. 


	11. The Darkness

She was cold now. Very, very cold as she looked around at the creatures. They shifted, surrounding her completely. As much as she wished to, she would not allow herself to give in to the fear steadily leaking into her heart. They were hungry, she realized. They stood like…like puppys waiting for a meal that they could not receive. No, she thought, your meal will not…can not come from me. Slowly, she turned to the tallest and blackest dementor.  
  
"You should not be here."  
  
She was surprised at her squeaky voice, speaking to something so much more powerful than herself. Could she defend herself if it came to an attack? She doubted it very much. That was it then, she was at their mercy, if they had any. The dementor's robe rustled. . The rain beat down on them, the dementors looked like ghosts in the rain. Black ghosts. It said nothing, she didn't think that they could even speak, but she got the overwhelming feeling of starvation. Relive your worst memories, she remembered vaguely, but she had never been starving like this, this empty hole that seemed to eat you up from the inside. Suddenly she remembered traveling to India with her mother when she was very small. She was six or seven, and her mother had left her to her own devices at the town fountain, telling her to stay right where she was and not to drink any of the water. It had been during an epidemic of tuberculosis, and people lay all around in cots or blankets, calling out for food, or water, or help. No one could give it to them, it was the worst five minutes of her life, and she hadn't even been sick. She still remembered it in her dreams, and now, though the memories were not her own, she could feel the fever eating at her, and the starvation slowly killing her. She finally understood. The dementors were starving. She wiped leaky eyes and composed himself. She almost felt sorry for these…these things. Staightening, she said,  
  
"No, you can't have me."  
  
The dementor cocked his head, she could see it through the hood. It was…odd to have something that was not alive and not dead to look at her like that. Professer McGonagal had given her that same look. A small part of her giggled, it looked like Snape when someone unexpected answered a question correctly. A roar issued from the stadium, and all heads snapped to attention. As one swift movement, all of the dementors began to make their way to the high running emotions.  
  
"No!"  
  
All stopped and turned to her.  
  
"Don't go there, they'll kill you!"  
  
She was swept with the need and wish to rest. They wanted to be dead. It was the only thing they wanted. As she fell into a faint, she watched them slowly drift to the stadium. 


	12. Dealing with it

1 "Oh no…"  
  
Zurizip's eyes opened, and then snapped shut again. It was so bright. Slowly, she opened them again, this shading her eyes. Taking her hand from her face, she found Professor Lupin looking at her face from a crouch.  
  
"Professor?"  
  
He smiled, obviously relieved.  
  
"Hello youngster! You gave me quite a scare!"  
  
She sat up, pressed her fingers to her temples, and laid back down.  
  
"Erg. I feel awful."  
  
"Why weren't you watching the game?"  
  
"I was playing with the squid. Where have you been the last few days? And why weren't you there? Oh no…"  
  
She sat up and gasped.  
  
"The dementors! Oh my gosh!"  
  
She paused. Lupin was obviously to baffeled to speak.  
  
"Drat. So that's why I'm out here. In a mud puddle."  
  
She drew her knees to her chest, much improved now that she knew what was going on. Attempting to wipe the mud from her hands, she realized that Lupin was staring at her.  
  
"What?"  
  
"You knew the dementors were going to attack?"  
  
She made a face.  
  
"Well sure, five minutes before they did so, and then I fainted."  
  
"Did they attack you?"  
  
Her frown grew deeper.  
  
"They did not 'attack' me, they were hungry!"  
  
He just continued to stare.  
  
"WHAT?!"  
  
"So they…fed off of you?"  
  
She gave an exasperated sigh.  
  
"No, I wouldn't let them."  
  
"So you sent them to the quidditch field?"  
  
This time her eyes narrowed, and she practicly spit her words.  
  
"I have no more control over them than you yourself do professor, they are quite able to make their own decisions. Or did you think that I wanted to lie here for an hour? Now, if you'll excuse me?"  
  
She stood up and ran to the castle on the brink of tears. Lupin just stared.  
  
~ She got up…just like that…no chocolate or anything…after…that…Who is she? ~  
  
He ran the name over in his head, it drifted around, looking for something to connect with.  
  
~ Zurizip Phoniexlia Nichols… Zurizip Phoniexlia Nichols…Zurizip Phoniexlia…Phoniexlia…~  
  
His eyes widened.  
  
~ Ailah Phoniexlia…Oh dear… ~  
  
He rose from the crouch and watched the green dot that was Zuri slam into the castle.  
  
Oh dear, he thought, this not good…no wonder. He remebered Ailah from school, she had been a gourgeous girl, but was like an ant trapper. She would be nice, lure you in, then break you. Sirius had been hit hard by her, heck, everyone had…well, everyone that could get over the fact that she was a slytherin. She had joined the death eaters, almost along with he himself before he had caught himself. He winced, those were not happy memories. Last he had heard of her, she was the only female death eater. He sighed, Zuri had not inherited her looks in the least, the only thing that was the same was the eyes. They were still that dark, earthy green. She did however, have a feel about her that was the same.  
  
~ But she's different than Ailah…she's in Gryfindor. ~  
  
He was fairly sure that Zuri was not a parsel tongue, as Ailah had been, but then again, no one had known that Harry was a parsel tongue for thirteen years. He decided to do some reasearch before he confronted her.  
  
~ That should be interesting, she already hates me for grilling her… ~  
  
With a sigh, things were difficult enough; especially with the full moon tonight. He began to trudge slowly to the castle, it was his last night of transformation, but it still hurt. Thankfully it was also the last night of that awful potion. 


	13. Coming back

She was very very glad that there were no classes the rest of the day, she didn' think that she would be able to make it through them. That and Professor Lupin is probably mad as a hornet at me now, she thought. She winced, thinking of their conversation. Neither of them had been in at their most rational obviously, especially her. Of course, making accusations like that was downright dirty. But he was right, said a little voice in her head, they did listen to you, and give answers to your questions. She sternly told the voice to shut up. Wiping her eyes, she said the password and walked into chaos. When she walked in, a few shouts went up.  
  
"Zuri! Where have you been?"  
  
"What happened? Where were you?"  
  
She smiled and told them that she was all right, and had been in the great hall. Of course, she had managed to clean herself with a spell she had learned in the first week of school, so people took this lie for truth. She was very glad for it. A few told her she was insane for missing a game, until she asked what happened. She knew perfectly, but asked so she wouldn't have to explain exactly what had happened. She was told of how awful the dementors were, and found out that she had only been out for ten minutes. She winced in all the right places and smiled when they told her how angry Dumbledore had been. She was sure that he had been livid. Thankfully, no one asked her of her experience. She discreetly took a small piece of the large chocolate slab, but left the rest to the people that really needed it, such as Neville. There was no sign of Hermione or Ron, she assumed that they were visiting Harry in the hospital wing. Feeling sorry for Neville, sniffling in a corner, she went and sat next to him.  
  
"Neville?"  
  
He looked up at her. Her heart wrenched, his struggle had obviously been as bad as  
  
Would have been. She still held the cold feeling at bay, willing herself to help Neville before giving in. She saw Anna and Jackie in a corner, she knew their problems. Both had heart throbs that probably wouldn't come true. Jackie was losing a friend. She swallowed a lump in her throat, Jackie and her would drift far in the future, their views on life and love were simply too different.  
  
One of the prefects went over to Jackie and hugged her. From her place by Neville, she could hear the conversation.  
  
"It isn't even our fault! I can't get her back now, it's too late!"  
  
Zuri hadn't the faintest clue what she was talking about, and continued to help Neville. Jackie wiped her eyes and sat up from her place beside the prefect, whose shoulder she had been crying on.  
  
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't be crying to you, you have enough to worry about."  
  
The prefect hugged her and wiped the girl's tears with her sleeve.  
  
"Shh, its ok, its good to cry, reveal your feelings."  
  
In hearing this, Zuri lost all composure she had retained. Clumsily, she got up. She couldn't reveal her feelings totally, ever. It just wasn't possible, she would lose so much. Everything. Vaguely, she heard Neville ask where she was going. She felt tears welling up in her eyes, and just barely managed to whisper,  
  
"I'll be right back."  
  
With that, she ran out, leaving a much calmer Neville looking Bewildering after her. 


	14. Research Devles a bit deep

Remus Lupin, as a werewolf, poured through books of wizarding family names he had. He, upon finding her name, had gone to his office and taken down all of the books that he had on wizarding familys. After he had transformed, he had immediately started looking through them. So far, he wasn't having any luck. Phoniexlia sounded like an old name, but it wasn't in any of the books he had checked. Then again… perhaps it was a newer name. He pawed his way through to the bottom of his pile. Finally, he found it. A Guide to Wizarding Familys of the 18th-20th Centurys, Published in 2000. With a bit of difficulty, he opened to the index. Dragging his claw the P's he found:  
  
Pharoh, 258-297  
  
Phenic, 137  
  
Pholia, 453-454  
  
Phonic, 238-253  
  
Phoniexlia, 542-543  
  
Noting the pages, he began the task of attempting to turn to 542. It was difficult, as his claws would rip if he wasn't careful. Finally, he found the entry. It took up three-fourths of a page, all told. The book began to read to him in an annoying grandmotherly voice. His nose wrinkled. It was a truly horrible voice, condescending and doting. He growled at it. It propmtly ignored him. Keeping the page, he flipped to the front, and found the options page. One of the spaces said, Outloud Reading. He touched it, it turned red. The voice stopped. Breathing a sigh of relief, he flipped back to the page, and settled in to read.  
  
1 Phoniexlia-  
  
One of the newer Wizarding names, the Phoniexlias are actully related to the Pharohs. In 1769, Annie Pharoh, one of the daughters of Alexander Pharoh ran away from home and was disowned. She married a non-wizard, and they settled down in England. The magic of the family passed out of knowladge for 150 years or so, until in 1907, a boy was born to Lena and John Napie. The boy, Leon, was found to be a wizard and was sent to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. When his parents were killed in a car accident during his fifth year, he became obsessed with his family. He reached back in his family lines until he found the Pharohs, one of the oldest recorded Wizarding Familys. Leon renamed himself Leon Phoniexlia. This name was inspired by the famous quality of the Phoenix to rise from the ashes of itself. The Pharohs have aknowladged the Phoniexlias as kin, even though Annie was Disowned. Since Leon, the Phoniexlias have grown in power, a result of marrying only wizards. There has been speculation as to whether this coincedence or not, as arranged marriges are still prominent in some of the older familys. (^-^ Foreshadowing!)  
  
Tina Skirter.  
  
Lupin closed the book and set his head on his paws, head spinning. Well, I did ask, he thought. That did explain it, well, her middle name anyway. What happened to plain old Phoniexlia? He middle name was certainly her family name, he remebered Ailah speaking of it, but the last name seemed to mean that Ailah was married. That couldn't mean good, she would never marry, not for love anyway, she was incapable of love. Knowing her, she did it for power. But what could she gain from marrying? He found that he honestly didn't want to know.  
  
***************  
  
Well all, umm that's that. Tiva, you are absolutely correct, she is a bit of a mary-sue, but wtf do you mean by she's obviously me? Do you know me? DO YOU? Its bothering me!!! Please give at least a clue to your identity if you do, or was that just a guess or WHAT? Im so confused. *sigh*. Whatever, review, so on. Oh yeah, and I am attempting to alter that image, we will be finding some rather large faults of hers in a small bit. 


End file.
